Latvian ace Andzejs Lebedevs hopes a new back-up team for 2026 can help him realise his Speedway GP medal dream.
The two-time European champion raced to a career-best sixth place in the Speedway GP World Championship last year to secure his spot in the 2026 series.
Lebedevs finished third at the rounds in Landshut and Riga, and bids to better the first of those results at the 2026 WWK Schwaiger & Partner FIM Speedway GP of Germany – Landshut on Saturday.
The Daugavpils-born star is leaving no stone unturned in his push for the podium and hopes bringing Polish mechanics Robert Zawada and Przemyslaw Klos into his team to work alongside long-time Latvian spanner man Artem Bogdanovich will take him to the next level in 2026.
He said: “With my other mechanics, I felt we had come to the top of what we could do with each other. I feel like to do something more, I need to change something.
“I feel I am okay, and the engines are good. We just needed some fresh air in the team and a little bit of something new from the side because usually when you work together for many years, it feels like you are cooking the same sauce, and you don’t have any new spices to add.
“I am working with some Polish guys from Torun. They have worked together for more than 15 years as a team. They worked together with Wieslaw Jagus and also Viktor Kulakov, but when he got banned and moved back to Russia, they worked with some juniors in Torun.
“That job was comfortable for the guys, but last year they decided they wanted to come back to big speedway and try to do something with me. That’s what I like, and I also like their work. They are loyal to the riders and don’t jump from one to another. They want to build something.
“I am looking forward to working with the guys I have now. Maybe they can give me some of the experience they have, and this is experience I can use on the track.”
Lebedevs is not a rider who constantly changes his pit personnel. He admitted: “It’s a difficult situation for me. During my career, I have had just three guys who have helped me. One mechanic, who has worked for me for over 10 years, I am keeping. Artem still works with me.
“This is a special season. I don’t like to change the people around me. Usually, I have really good people around me. But these guys are also good – they’re full time and full heart. I see how much they care about me, and that’s what I really respect and what I am looking for.”
When it comes to making the jump from sixth in the world and on to the podium, Lebedevs knows small differences make all the difference.
But he conceded: “It’s hard to find these differences – what you need to do to be better – when you get to this stage. I have done what I think can work better. Hopefully I have made good changes.
“Of course, 2025 was a top season for me. I got my first podiums for my country, and I am very proud about that. I took some small steps forward and, hopefully, I can keep doing this and try to make the next step and fight for the medals this year. That’s the goal for every rider who starts in the World Championship. I feel that I am ready to do big things.”